The workshop equipped participants with skills and knowledge on how to use the course manual to teach their student-teachers and furnished them with the technical know-how on the organisation of pragmatic and purposeful Professional Development sessions using the course manual and the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) handout. It also developed their ability to support their colleagues to use the course manual to prepare their weekly lessons.  

The Director, ITECPD, Prof. Dandy George Dampson, pointed out that the workshop sought to provide all the participants with a forum to discuss, share experience, provide guidance and devise a strategy for strengthening the new curriculum pathways to enable them effectively deliver whenever they were called upon.  

“The Management of UEW, and for that matter ITECPD recognises the importance of this workshop as emphatically stated in the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the affiliated Colleges of Education some years ago. It is our duty as a mentoring institution not only to provide guidance but also to professionally develop the academic staff of the affiliated Colleges of Education,” he affirmed. 

Prof. Dampson assured participants of UEW’s high commitment to sustaining, maintaining and improving upon the mentoring process. He added, however, that “the onus is on you to be full participants in the mentoring process”. 

“We need to teach and examine our students without fear or favour and to nurture them to compete favourably in the world of work,” he stated. 

The Director of ITECPD entreated tutors in the same courses across colleges to form common social platforms where educational resources could be shared. “It has become necessary to do so because there is the possibility of inconsistency occurring in our teaching and examination questions.”

Prof. Dampson encouraged participants to explore, critique, be analytical and contribute positively to achieve the goal of the workshop. 

Among the topics treated were “teaching reading and writing for JHS, the psychological basis for differentiated assessment for JHS and introduction to English Literature”. Also, there were subject group activities on the following topics: “study of course manual, CPD needs and development of activities to address them, presentation of CPD needs and modalities for organising Professional Development Sessions (PDS) in College”.